The Youthful Travellers; Or, Letters Chiefly Descriptive of Scenes Visited by Some Young People, Designed as Examples of the Epistolary Style for Children. Or, Letters Chiefly Descriptive of Scenes Visited by Some Young People, Designed as Examples of the Epis (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1823. Excerpt: ... row of china cups upon the mantleshelf. After having partaken of some refreshment, papa asked them to conduct us over the farm, and Clara and myself were much pleased with seeing the poultry-yard, pigeons, &c. Then, as tea was not quite ready, George said that, if we liked, he would go with us to a chalk-pit at a little distance; for he knew that I wished to find the beeorchis, a curious plant which generally grows in chalk-pits, and the blossom of which bears such a resemblance to a bee, as to be sometimes mistaken for one. So thither we went, and were well repaid for our trouble by finding the object of our search, although it was rather late in the season for it. Mamma shewed me a few lines upon the beeorchis when we got home, which I copy for you: See on that flow'ret's velvet breast How close the busy vagrant lies I His thin-wrought plume, his downy breast, TV ambrosial gold that swells his: thighs: Perhaps the fragrant load may bind His limbs;--we'll set the captive free--r I sought the living' bee to find, And found the picture of a bee.' As we returned to the farm, we crossed a damp, marshy field, where we found another curious flower, the leaves of which are of such a nature, that if a fly happen to alight upon them, they instantly fold up and crush the poor little creature to death. This plant, called the sundew, reminded me of the sensitive plant which you know we used frequently to touch, when we went into the green-house, in order to see it shrink back and curl up its leaves, as though afraid we should hurt them. Now we cannot suppose that these plants have real feeling, but they certainly seem to be a sort of connecting link, as George says, between the animal and vegetable kingdom: indeed, my dear Caroline, the sundew has awakened my atte...